Hold Your Horses!
Genesis 15–18
Derek Helt

When we get impatient, when we don’t know what to do, sometimes we decide that we need to do something, even if it’s the wrong thing. True, sometimes we suffer from "paralysis by analysis," and indecision causes us to lose our opportunity and momentum; but I would bet that what more-often happens is that when God says, "Wait" to us, we fail to heed His warning and charge headlong into doing the wrong thing altogether.

I don’t know about all of you, but I had a difficult time concentrating on certain things the second week in November last year. The reason for my difficulty could probably be summed up in one word: waiting. Wednesday, November 8^th, 2000, in particular, was a day spent waiting. We woke up that morning and found that we were still waiting know who the next President of the United States would be. Little did we know then, that our wait would be longer still. Our family also waited that week to see if my wife would get a job that she had recently interviewed for. At lunch time, we got a call from an old friend who was waiting on a decision from his wife. Would she repent of having an affair and try to salvage their 17-year marriage; or would she turn her back on her husband and four children and run off with the man whose child she carried?

Obviously, not all of these concerns are of equal importance and likewise, not all periods of waiting are equally distracting. Waiting for the election to be resolved — as serious as that was— was not as important as waiting see if a spouse was going leave or not. I could shut off the radio and put the election out of my mind for a time. That was not option for my friend, however. His waiting had just begun. And you know, waiting is usually a difficult thing. My neighbor is a veteran of World War II. He's a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine near the Philippines in the last days of the war. He’s been waiting for years for the captain of that ship to be cleared of the charges he was found guilty of when he was court-marshaled. Many people, including my neighbor, believe the captain was the scapegoat to cover-up other people’s ineptitude. That poor man committed suicide in the 1960’s, but my neighbor, Jack, and many other vets, await justice for him.

Waiting doesn’t have to be tied to anything as serious as that to cause us grief and uncertainty in life. I have known people who had certain notions of what their lives would be like — they pictured themselves married, or single; living in a city, or a small town; having several children or maybe none; or in a certain line of work — and they came to the realization that their expectations for their lives do not match reality. So, in a sense, they’re waiting … to get married, to retire, for children, for children to leave home, to get their mortgage paid off, or for their career to start. This often leads to a certain feeling of "in-between-ness," for lack of a better term.

I’ve had that kind of feeling myself. After college, we had wanted to return to South America to work as missionaries, but that just wasn’t working out, for a number of reasons. So, we decided to work in a church here in this country — and even that was a little slower in coming than we would have liked. For a few years I was a little frustrated: here I was, trained and educated for the ministry, but working in a machine shop. Granted, I was not miserable there, but neither was I satisfied or content with the direction my life was going. I was in somewhat of an "in-between" state. I was stuck in waiting mode.

We don’t like to wait. Think about it: what’s the popular notion of "hell on earth?" A day spent at the DMV, right? Any day spent in lines, in waiting rooms, hoping to talk to the right person, to see the doctor, to get something resolved! In these days of fax machines, e-mail, microwaves, FedEx overnight deliveries and express check-out lanes, waiting is so difficult; it seems like such a waste of time. "Let’s move; let’s get going, let’s do something." Yet, waiting — even on the big issues of life — is something we must do.

In Genesis, chapters 15 through 18, we find what is probably one of the best "waiting stories" — a story of a couple stuck for years in a state of "in-between-ness," in "waiting mode." Early on in their lives, their names were Abram and Sarai, but they are known best by the new names God later gave them: Abraham and Sara. Let’s look at verses 1 through 6 …

(Read Genesis 15:1-6)

Most of us are probably at least somewhat familiar with the story of Abraham and Sarah. God had chosen them to be the founders of what would be a "great nation," or so He had promised them. This was not the first time this particular promise had been given to Abraham. In chapter twelve, God first promised Abraham that he was going to be the father of a great nation and that this nation would live in a land that was, at that time, inhabited by other people. Abraham received this promise gladly, but it seems his faith was starting to waiver. The problem was that in the years since God had first made this promise to Abraham, he had had no children. He and Sarah were "getting on in years." Abraham was no doubt wondering, "How can I be the father of a great nation, when I don’t have any children?"

To understand this story, we need to realize the importance that was placed upon children, especially sons, in those days. My wife and I have two lovely daughters. We do not look upon having daughters as in any way inferior to having sons — it just simply is. Our culture generally values daughters just as much as it does sons. However, in those days, sons were valued much more highly than daughters. Daughters were valuable. They could bring you wealth and power, if they married into a wealthy, powerful family. But sons could carry on your family name! Yes, daughters were useful, but you built dynasties with sons! And if you had no children you were looked as being exceedingly bad off.

Because children were valued for the work they could do and the other contributions they could make to a family, they were seen as a sign of blessing from God. True, we think of them as blessings today (most of the time!), but they were more back then. The presence of children in your family was seen as a direct sign that God though well of you. If none were present, then you had obviously done something to offend God. So, the fact that Abraham and Sarah had no children whatsoever would be a sure indication to everyone around them that God was withholding His blessing from them.

Do you see how they were stuck in "waiting mode?" Abraham had received a promise from God, yet what had to happen in order for this promise to be fulfilled had yet to come about. Years later, when God repeated this promise and elaborated on it, Abraham replied, "How can this come about, since I don’t have any children?" And God says, "Don’t worry, you’re going to have children and, what’s more, your descendants are going to be like the stars in sky." The text tells us that Abraham believed God and God credited him for that belief.

Some years ago, I flew out to Eastern Tennessee to take a two-week class on "the art of preaching" at Emanuel School of Religion. Also taking this class was my friend and mentor, Steve Moore, who preaches at Cherry Lane Christian Church in Meridian, Idaho. Before the first day of class, Steve told me about a class he had taken from the same professor, Dr. Myron Taylor. He told me that the other class had truly been amazing. The professor had shared many insights gained from a long, successful life as a preacher and man of God. Then Steve said, "When I walked out of Dr. Taylor’s class, I would have walked over hot coals to preach the Gospel!" He was motivated, enthusiastic, and renewed once again to accept the challenge head-on. I cannot help but think that this is probably very similar to how Abraham felt at this point when he "believe the Lord …."

Have you had a similar experience? Likely you have. Maybe something challenges you and causes you to think, to ponder; and it gets you excited about life like nothing else has for a while. Maybe you hear someone’s story of how God used them to accomplish something great for the Kingdom, and your heart stirs within you and you think to yourself, "You know, I could do the same thing ." Or, you have some success in helping someone progress in their relationship with the Lord, and the surge of energy, the sense of purpose, you get from that motivates you to take big, bold steps, to make big plans for your life. Possibly you come across someone who has no apparently spectacular or unusual gift — nothing that you do not possess yourself — and you see them used by God in a mighty way. So you pray, "Why not me, God? I want to be used by you in a significant way, too. I'm ready; just point me in the right direction!"

That’s comparable to what happened here when Abraham "believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Abraham "caught" God’s vision for his life and he said, "Let’s go, God, I’m ready!"

Unfortunately (or so it usually seems from our perspective), just because we feel we’re ready for something great and grand to happen in our lives, God may not be as convinced of our readiness. Skip over to chapter 16 with me, and lets look at the first five verses there …

(Read 16:1-5)

What happens here takes place years after the events in chapter 15. Despite God’s promise, Abraham and Sarah still had no children. Put yourself in Sarah’s place for minute, if you can. God had made a promise. No doubt Abraham had shared the news of this promise with his wife. So it is safe to assume that both of them kept expecting Sarah to become pregnant. They knew how this happened, and yet she still failed to conceive, month after month, year after year. It’s not right, nor is it scientifically accurate, but in those days women received all the blame when a couple couldn’t have children.

Sarah was feeling like a failure. "God promised us this wonderful legacy, but my failure to produce a son has blocked the fulfillment of promise." The stress of waiting for a child was getting to her. I’ve known couples who had difficulties having children. The stress of having a deep longing for children, and yet having month after month go by without conceiving and constantly going to doctors for this test and that — all these things can put a severe strain on the best of marriages. Just imagine if believed that your failure was keeping God’s promise from coming true!

Sarah wanted to see her husband succeed. She wanted him to be blessed by God, to receive his promise. Good wives want to see their men succeed in whatever they’ve chosen to do in life. They want to help them, encourage them, and cheer for them; just as a good husband feels protective of his wife, will stand up for her, and wants her to succeed in what she chooses to do. Sarah desired this for Abraham. So, she came up with a solution: have Abraham father a child by her slave girl, Hagar.

Today we read this and say to ourselves, "That’s just plain crazy. That’s asking for trouble. I could’ve told you from the beginning that this wasn’t going to work out." However, in that day and age, this would have been seen as an acceptable solution to their dilemma. It was done often enough that nobody would have thrown a fit because of it. In such cases, we know that the child would normally be adopted by the wife who couldn’t have children and would be raised as the natural, biological child of the barren couple. As I said, it was commonly done among people in that part of world back then. But, that doesn’t mean it was right and proper. Neither was it what God wanted to happen in this case.

Richard Dunagin tells this story:

Sarah’s scheme to get Abraham a son was much like that fellow’s misstep in cleaning the fish tank with soap. When we get impatient, when we don’t know what to do, sometimes we decide that we need to do something, even if it’s the wrong thing. True, sometimes we suffer from "paralysis by analysis," and indecision causes us to lose our opportunity and momentum; but I would bet that what more-often happens is that when God says, "Wait" to us, we fail to heed His warning and charge headlong into doing the wrong thing altogether.

Any examples I could give of this type of thing happening would be too specific. I don’t know of any easy formula for discerning whether, in a given situation, we’re to wait on God or to simply act using the wisdom and common sense He’s given us. However, I would say this: God will be consistent in how He deals with us and directs us. He will not tell us to do something that is wrong, unethical, or inconsistent with biblical teaching when He shows us a solution to a dilemma.

His answer to our impatience will never involve sin. Let me give you a quick example of what I mean. My wife had an acquaintance who was certain God had led her to her husband. That sounds nice, but the problem is that she met her husband in a bar. I'm not saying that this absolutely could not be the case, but of all the things that can and do happen in bars, probably most of them are immoral, or they lead to immoral, ungodly behavior. So, I find it highly unlikely that God would send someone to a place like that to meet the mate that He’s picked out for them.

Sarah should have realized that God would not use something as destructive and as damaging as this to bring about His plan. Look at the aftermath of her plan. It damaged their marriage. Sarah said to her husband, "Look at what you’ve done, Abraham! There is trouble in this tent because that girl is carrying your child." Then she said, "May the Lord judge between you and me." In those days, that meant, "You had better watch your back! If you escape my wrath unscathed, it will be because God was watching out for you." Conveniently, she ignored the fact that the whole fiasco was her idea in the first place.

Not that Abraham was blameless in all of this. He, too, should have seen the likely consequences of this immoral act. Yet, the waiting was having a negative effect on him, too. Human nature, I'm convinced, absolutely abhors waiting. How many people get into financial trouble because they want all the conveniences, all the "extras," right now? They refuse to wait for them. How many people are anxious to do something with their lives, but they don’t take the time to learn, prepare, and plan; and so they plunge headlong into some endeavor without having all their ducks in a row. They lack the necessary training and the proper preparation and so they fail miserably. I could be talking about financial matters, spiritual endeavors, or personal relationships. We don’t want to wait, even if waiting makes sense. Yet sometimes God has us wait for very good reasons.

The good news is that even when we jump the gun, things can, and often do, still work out the way God wants them to. They did for Abraham and Sarah. The birth of their son doesn’t happen until chapter 21; but in chapter 18, Abraham receives some visitors who were messengers from God. Abraham recognizes this, welcomes them, and then prepares a meal for them, as a good host would in those days. As they eat, this exchange takes place. Reading from chapter 18, verses 9 through 15…

(Read 18:9-15)

Probably everyone here — even if you’re not a basketball fan — is familiar with the name Larry Bird, former basketball great of the Boston Celtics. During Bird’s retirement party in the Boston Garden, former Celtics coach K. C. Jones told of diagramming a play during a time-out in last crucial seconds of a close game, only to have Bird dismiss his plan, saying: "Just get the ball to me and get everyone out of my way." Jones said, "I’m the coach, and I will call the plays." Then Jones turned to the other players and said, "Get the ball to Larry, and get out of his way."

This may sound simplistic, maybe even naïve, but I believe this is good biblical advice: Sometimes we need to give the ball to God and then get out of His way. And at times this means waiting, having our temporary hopes and dreams set aside, trusting God to order our lives in the way that is ultimately best for us. It is true that sometimes we need to step out on faith and follow God’s leading in some direction that we’re not comfortable with. But, it is just as biblical to say that other times, we need to wait on Him and not get anxious to take matters into our own hands.

I’ll tell you the truth: I desperately wish today that I had some formula or a flow-chart that we could all take and apply to the problems and situations in lives. It would say, "If A happens, then go to solution B. If C happens, then see branch D." But I don’t have that formula or flowchart and I would be very suspicious of anyone who said they did! All I know is what others have told me and what I have confirmed with personal experience: There have been times when I tried to work things out at the major junction points of my life and my efforts fell through. And, you know what? I was crushed, almost devastated for a time. But in each and every case, what ended up happening in our lives after my plans fell through has been for the better, and we can see the truth of that now in hindsight.

There’s a story about a man who asked God how long a million years was to Him. God said, "It’s just like a single second of your time, my child." The man then asked, "What about a million dollars?" The Lord answered, "To me, it’s just like a single penny." The man gathered himself up and said, "Well, Lord, could I have one of your pennies?" God said, "Certainly, my child, just a second."

That’s just a silly story, but it could serve as a reminder of the truth that God sometimes tells us to "hold our horses" — to wait on Him, on His timing, on His wisdom. I would simply challenge all of us to ponder this and work hard to remember it when we get anxious in the course of our lives.

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The author of this sermon, Derek Helt,  may be reached at: derek-nfcc@charter.net

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